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Senator Hollings and the SSSCA
An Anonymous Coward writes: "You probably suspected some sort of "follow the money" thing was behind Sen. Fritz Hollings' support of SSSCA, the draft bill that would make using 'any interactive digital device that does not include and utilize certified security technologies' illegal in the U.S. This proposed law could effectively outlaw Linux and most Open Source software, depending on how judges interpret it. A NewsForge story details where Sen. Hollings' money comes from. Guess what? His biggest contributors are entertainment industry companies, their lawyers, and their lobbyists. The story also says Hollings and his staff refused to comment on the bill, and staffers the reporter talked to refused to even give their names." Newsforge and Slashdot are both part of VA Linux.
How much money has M$ put in
I am a republican not by choice, but rather by lack there of.
No more Linux?
Microsoft has a monopoly then...
What is his office address and phone number?
This free speech violated the poster comment opression filter, freedom aborted.
I have to admit I have never heard about this SSSCA thing before.
It sounds like a "Only in America" story - what do you americans think, does something like this have a realistic change of going through? And if something like that goes through, is there any reason to stay in that country any more.
why is it that everytime a news source, such as slashdot, reports negativly on a politician, that if the political views of the politician coincide with that of the news source, that they fail to mention the politicians political party???
/. did here, and "fail" to mention the party affiliation.
example: the next time you hear about a politician involved in a scandal on CNN, listen very closely. if they're a republican, believe you me, CNN will repeat that fact over and over. if it's a dem, well, they'll do exactly what
-sting3r
yeah, no shit. they'd probably be DDOSed and email bombed off the net.
-c
I have discovered a truly remarkable proof which this margin is too small to contain.
Let his identity be stolen, he might change his tune about personal privacy.
-
Build a system that even a fool can use, and only a fool will want to use it. - George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
We can't let the same thing that happened with the DMCA happen with this law: the geeks of the world need to, just for a moment, crawl out of their holes and write to the folks in congress. Yes, we're not a megacorporation unto ourselves -- but we do have money, and we vote.
With the DMCA, most senators didn't even realize that anybody was even opposed to this law. That can't happen again.
You can find your representatives online.
_________________________
Should the US fight terrorism with terrorism?
againstrevenge.org
First of all, Linux/FreeBSD/GPL software is so prevelant in todays society that this bill will be entirely inneffective. The amount of money spent to enforce it will seriously compromise its legitimacy.
secondly, if this bill *does* pass, technology that is affected will not only go over the border to Europe and Canada, but law enforcement officials in the USA will have to deal with it much the same way as Canadian officials deal with marijuana. No prosecution for possession. The cost to prosecute will be enormous. They will try to make examples of ppl trying to distribute it, but since most distribution will be done outside of the US, the bill will be as impotent as a 3 Mile Island employee........
Just a few rambling thoughts.....
Feed the need: Digitaladdiction.net
Everyone thinks this is a bill sponsored by Microsoft.
It's not.
Microsoft has the desktop market sewn up, handful of KDE zealots not withstanding...it doesn't need this.
The sponsors are the MPAA and the RIAA.
So keep that in mind next time you rush out to buy a bunch of anime DVDs or the latest trendy CD being pushed by MTV.
Disney buys a 20 year extension to copyright every 20 years, there's no reason that if they team up with the rest of the MPAA and the RIAA the can't buy this law also.
I'm just waiting to see an ebay auction for legislation.
"Do you want a competitor's product made illegal? Special tax breaks for your industry? Bid now! Sorry, we dont take Visa or Paypal, only political contributions"
SSSCA will likely pass. DMCA will hold strong. Encryption? What's that? And, in lieu of Congress using 'security' as the hot-buzzword, I would suspect DMCA will strengthen. Forget it. We lost.
The End
No need for legislation. Every Linux & "open source" company will be out of business in a few months anyway.
to the NSA's version of Linux, or to SecureBSD, if some judge somewhere, ever interpreted this thing to read that OSS is non-compliant? IANAL, and I don't know any.
Thoughts/Comments?
Sometimes people just have to learn and adapt to change, it is one of the requirements of being a living thing.
If you attempt to pronounce SSSCA, it sounds sort of like "sucker" -- I guess that's what the sponsors of the bill take us Americans for!
There's 10 types of people in this world, those who understand binary and those who don't.
If you're interested in getting to the root cause by helping to support Campaign Finance Reform, check out http://www.commoncause.org/
-glenn
Do they even REALIZE how many digital devices there are out there? It goes wayyyyy beyond CD and DVD players. It even applies to FUTURE products!
Surely this cannot become a reality.
Michael
Creator of Micro$oft's new logo as well as other stuff at Pounding Sand
My beliefs do not require that you agree with them.
Let's not jump to conclusions. The poster is comitting the logical intent fallacy, because we can never truely know the intent of the senator. Humans often act contrary to how their enviornment around them would make you believe they would.
Additionally, we should have a little more faith in our system. I have no problem with the congressman presenting this bill, because I have good faith that one of two things will happen: 1) a majority of other congressmen(and women) will see this type of legislation as being a violation of indiviudal liberties and vote aginst it, or 2) this would get struct down by the Supreme Court.
Now, it is possible that out system will fail. And I'm ready to move to a little island somewhere in the Bahamas. But let's not freak out yet. What we can do is:
1) Public protests in large numbers - the media loves to cover stuff like that
2) Mail, not email - most congressmen don't have time to read the millions of emails/spam they recieve. A letter seeems like you put more effort into your comment anyway.
3) Run for office. Elections are right around the door. There are plenty of geeky people in the US who have enough knowledge of political science and related fields to make a run for it. Competent legislaturers are a must.
4) Move to Canada. We'll c how good the US economy does after the whole tech sector moves out.
F-bacher
James Tiberius Kirk: "Spock, the women on your planet are logical. No other planet in the galaxy can make that claim."
Even if the battle in Congress is hopeful for us (at least I hope most of us here are on the side of Linux), maybe a case to say that this law is unconstitutional should be launched. You can't lobby the Supreme Court with Megabucks.
In addition to my office in Washington, D.C., I have three offices in South Carolina: Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville. The addresses and phone numbers for these offices are below. South Carolina residents may call, toll free, 1-800-922-8503.
If you would like to send me an e-mail, please enclose a postal address to ensure a prompt response.
Washington, D.C.
125 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202)224-6121
Web Mail
Charleston, S.C.
112 Custom House
200 East Bay Street
Charleston, SC 29401
(843) 727-4525
Lowcountry Assistant: Joe Maupin
Columbia, S.C.
1835 Assembly Street
Suite 1551
Columbia, SC 29201
(803) 765-5731
State Director: Trip King
Greenville, S.C.
126 Federal Building
Greenville, SC 29603
(864) 233-5366
Upstate Assistant: John Funderburk
You're an idiot.
This would only encourage him to push for more intrusive security technology.
SSSCA will likely pass. DMCA will hold strong. Encryption? What's that? And, in lieu of Congress using 'security' as the hot-buzzword, I would suspect even DMCA will strengthen. Forget it. We lost.
Ironically, FBI agents were probably spending more time looking for copyright violators than suspected terrorists before the WTC attack. We know where 'their' priorities lie.
The End
Yes, we've all seen this coming. That really hasn't ever been in question. However the real problem will be, how many people would we have to throw into jail for opposing such a law, as this bill would pass? Even congress wouldn't pass such a bill as this without thinking about this, it would have to be in the millions, since technically so many forms of data encoding could be conceived as encryption. (i.e. remove headers from compressed files, and the remaining data is essentially encrypted.)
;-P
So while this particular bill is not the threat it seems to be, the future versions of this bill will. Imagine having to put anti-encryption filters on library computers.
Whatever happens, idiots like this will try to take away more and more rights of citizens, while well funded terrorists, only need to hire one good mathematician to keep generating new encryption schemes for his minimal network of terrorists.
Remember the real issue here is NOT about stopping terrorists, it is about allowing the government unlimited access to our lives, no matter how miniscule.
Remember it is our responsibility to curtail such a threat to our rights, the government does not yet have the ability or legal right to use, or insist on such technology, let's make sure it never does. Call your congressman/woman today!
How can it not? Especially when the government uses many of the technologies it hopes to alienate and regulate. Before long, there will be so much crappy legislation in place that it will be impossible to move an inch without breaking some law or another. But, that will not stop people from moving. We'll definitely find that law enforcement will be spending so much effort trying to enforce dozens of laws with millions of Americans.
This is why that the best ways we can respond are A) write a litter to your representatives, telling them to NOT pass this foolishness, and if that fails, B) everyone do everything they can to break these laws to the highest extent. What better way to stop a machine than to throw objects into its gears? In this situation where such important fundamental freedoms are in jeopardy, our only choices may be to throw ourselves in between the cogs.
How long before courts are so utterly bogged down with millions of open software and encryption users (individuals and businsess alike) that they are using up all their time? Eventually, practicallity will get in the way of these old fruits. The scale of this is analagous to making blue jeans illegal. Sure, the gov. could make it a crime to wear certain pants, but what's going to happen when every court room in the nation has a mile-long line of people waiting to be arraigned (on top of the line that's already there no less!)
Why bother.
Sons of Technology, I am Steve Wozniak.
[Steve Wozniak is seven feet tall!]
Yes, I've heard. Kills men by the hundreds, and if he were here he'd consume the SSSCA with fireballs from his eyes and bolts of lightning from his arse.
I AM Steve Wozniak! And I see a whole army of my countrymen here in defiance of tyranny. You've come to fight as free men...and free men you are. What will you do without freedom? Will you fight?
[Fight? Against that? NO! We will run...and we will live.]
Aye, fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live...at least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade all the days from this day to that...for one chance, JUST ONE CHANCE, TO COME BACK HERE AND TELL OUR ENEMIES THAT THEY MAY TAKE OUR LIVES...BUT THEY'LL NEVER TAKE OUR FREEDOM!!!
F-bacher
James Tiberius Kirk: "Spock, the women on your planet are logical. No other planet in the galaxy can make that claim."
Make sure you also send the URL or full text of the newsforge article - including author, to your representative.
And, maybe write the editors of other more 'mainstream' media, like ZDnet, the NY Times, etc.
-- Sometimes you have to turn the lights off in order to see.
Before we all get too worried about losing our beloved Linux and other OSS, just remember that OSS has a lot of money behind it too now (IBM, Sun, etc.)
"I won't write a letter, but I'll moderate you up so that 10x people will see your post and write tons of letters which is even better! Muhahaha, I'm so deviously benevolent." -moderators
Did I miss something? What the hell are you taking about?
Get over it.
heh if people cant use linux on the internet, and if people cant run opensource servers such as apache, and if the internet web pages are all run off of Microdoft webservers. We can only conclude that this ssca or whatever its spelt is in fact the people behind infecting computers with code red and nimda(sp??).
I dont care what country you live in this is by far the worst case senario for a service that delivers information. If anything like this passes in the us i am seriously cancelling my isp account, and build my own (dare i say l33t) underground network. any fuching government wants to mess with it they fuch the fuch off.
Secondly, the general public cannot be made to care about this unless we strip the question down to its (nontechnical) essentials.
Let's do ourselves a favor. Forget all our beloved jargon, concentrate on something like simply email -- which people know about, care for and roughly understand --, and publically ask Senator Hollings elementary questions like this:
Timeo idiotikOS et dona ferentes
'any interactive digital device that does not include and utilize certified security technologies' is a little too broad for me.
I would be sent to prison for using my digital wristwatch to tell time.
This bill will never see the light of day.
-- yawn. --
The teamsters controlled the movement of goods across the continent. We need to take control of the movement of the information. If we have to, we should all be willing to stop working and suspend all support. "Oh you want e-mail? Well we have this little problem. We don't like your proposed legislation. What, your database is offline and you can't fill your orders? This is the name of the representative you need to speak to..." You get the picture. I know it wouldn't be easy, there will be "scabs" willing to undermine our position and they would have to be dealt with. But is freedom to do whatever you want with your information without the Government interfering worth fighting for?
You're using her as bait, Master!
http://www.petitiononline.com/SSSCA/petition.html
Washington (Rooters): In a bold move to preserve the American way of life, Senator Howlers introduced a bill that would outlaw most chocolates, including Lindt and Nestle.
Howlers explained that this was an emergency bill: "These brands of food are unsafe. They generate a rush of sugar that is demonstrably dangerous. Hords of teens running on sugar high regularly go online and hack into National Defense computers."
Moreover, Howlers said that many popular brands of gourmet chocolate had a suspiciously foreign origin: "Many people start swapping slabs of high-cocoa chocolate in school, and import these foods from nations connected to Bin Laden's network. Do you know where most of these chocolates come from? Switzerland and France. There are several Middle East banks in the center of Geneva, I've seen pictures, they must be up to something. As for the French, they are plotting against us since they started selling these goddamn Airbus instead of buying good old Boeings. And my good friends in Avon even told me the French have the brazen gall of competing against them in the cosmetics sector. These evil acts cannot remain unpunished. From lipstick to dynamite stick, there is a clear path of potential terror here."
Howlers does not stop here in his sacred mission of protecting the American public. "Every scientist will tell you that this chocolate thing is addictive," he adds. "You start with Nestle, and soon you're hooked on 70-percent cocoa Lindt. From there the victim is sucked into an inferno of dark-stained teeth and smeared fingers. Plus, the farts are really unbearable."
Our valliant lawmaker has a solution to replace the imported food. "Cat food sandwich. That's right. Toast some bead, pop a can open, and here you go, have a delicious sandwich made of all-american poultry, beef or fish offals. It's not addictive, it does not give you a high, it does not worsen the trade deficit, and it doesn't stain clothes. Gourmets even eat it with a spoon out of the can."
Asked if it would not restrict basic freedoms, Howlers drove the point home: "We are compelled to protect the American way of life. If it's good enough for our pets, it's good enough for the rest of us. The catastrophe of September 11 clearly gives us the moral duty of getting rid of our complacency, even if we have to face a few inconvenience. I agree that popping open a can of Purina is harder than ripping up a Hershley pack. But we'll work on this issue."
-- Grovell Brownose, Washington, for Rooters
--
Mad science! Robots! Underwear! Cute girls! Full comic online! http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/
I don't understand why Linux would become illegal under such a law when Linux could support all the encryption technologies. Even if we would have to add "binary only" kernel modules to support the encryption stuff, why would Linux become illegal?
Can someone please elaborate on this?
Much like the MPAA/RIAA and file sharing, legislation like this is picking a fight that it can not win. Let them over extend themselves trying to quash activity they can't possibly monitor. The sooner they exhaust their resources trying to enforce these draconian laws, the sooner thier control freak mentality will be revealed as the pathetic, desperate grasp at straws that it is.
They are tightening their grip because they are afraid, and with good reason. For the first time in history, the common people have better resources and knowledge than the Government and the Corporate sector!
If news outlets are interested in party affiliations, at least corporates certainly aren't : they'll grease the palm of whomever necessary.
Guess you're a republican, then? Why do all /. stories have to get skewed by party politics? Lucky there's only two parties, or we'd never get anything discussed.
My next sig will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush
Of course since it has the 'S' word in the title it is guaranteed to pass now more than ever.
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
--------------
Dear Senator/Representative:
It has come to my attention that Rep. Fritz Hollings is introducing a bill titled the The Security Systems Standards and Certification Act (SSSCA). This bill will make it illegal to possess any computer device that allows unrestricted copying of digital data.
I have previously written to you about the Digital Millenium Copywright Act, which is a similar law that I believe is unconstitutional. The DMCA makes it legal for corporations to develop technology that can limit or remove my fair use rights under copywright law, but makes it illegal for me to use other technology to restore these rights.
The SSSCA takes this unfair practice even further. The SSSCA makes it illegal to own a computer that does not have "security controls". If I purchase a computer, all of the hardware and software in that computer must comply with whatever access controls the media industry has created. Undoubtably, the restrictions that these access controls impose will not be open for debate by the American public. The corporations will have total control.
The problem with the SSSCA is that it effectively makes Linux and all other Open Source software (software for which the source code is available for free) illegal. There is no point in implementing these security controls in Open Source software, because anyone could easily remove them (that's the benefit of having the source code - you can modify the program as much as you want). Did you know that more than half the Internet runs on Open Source software? What is the government going to do - shut down the Internet because suddenly it's 50% illegal?
I would like to direct your attention to an online news article about Rep. Hollings and the SSSCA. If you can, please pull up your web browser and visit
http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/09/20/2 047211
On this page, you can read how a reporter attempted to get some basic questions about the SSSCA answered from Rep. Hollings, but was instead met with extreme resistance. Not only that, but investigations into the financial supporters of Rep. Hollings show that five of the top twenty soft-money donations come from media companies. These are the same companies that promoted the DMCA and would like nothing more than to completely eliminate the concept of fair use from copyright law.
These draconian laws are getting out of hand. To me, they are proof positive that our so-called elected officials have really been purchased by giant corporations. I am opposed to any law that restricts my constitutional rights. I am opposed to extending the duration of patents and copyrights (such as the Sonny Bono copyright extension law that was passed just for Disney). Your track record in such matters has been unacceptable to me, and I will be voting against you in the next election if that doesn't change. Issues such as the budget, Social Security, the military, taxation, and abortion mean little to me. As an engineer, I feel that my rights are being slowly erased by politicians who don't understand technology.
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
They do, but they help the entertainment industry first, minorities after that, and then the working class... unless they're white in which case you're probably just white hick trash who voted Republican anyway. :-)
I don't understand why Linux would become illegal under such a law when Linux could support all the encryption technologies. Even if we would have to add "binary only" kernel modules to support the encryption stuff, why would Linux become illegal?
Could someone please elaborate on this?
Just to let you know - when the nice folks on TV refer to "Rep. XXX" they actually mean "Representative, not "Republican"? It's the little "D" or "R" at the end of the representative's name that actually tells you which party they belong to, and those appear pretty much equally.
Linux would be forced to use propriatary software (from the federal gov't) to be legal, which is the antithesis of the open source movement. There should be no forceably entered closed source applications integrated into Linux. And it might be illegal to actually remove the digital protecttion software, which an open source model would obviously allow you to do no matter what. Linux as we know it would be dead, and we could bet that more gov't interventions into software woould be soon to follow.
F-bacher
James Tiberius Kirk: "Spock, the women on your planet are logical. No other planet in the galaxy can make that claim."
Hi everyone, I've put together a web site to combat the SSSCA: http://www.StopPoliceware.org This site has links to a petition opposing the bill, the text of the bill itself, and links to articles on the web. Please help spread the word! - Don
Free speech is dead.
The fences are going up.
Dogs that bite will be killed.
Dogs that bark will have collars put on them.
Al Qaeda, are coming for you, we are going to eradicate you and your twisted fundamentalism beliefs. United States, when we finish with them, we're gonna have to have a serious talk about some things that went on while we were away.
Hammer of Truth
We're all outlaws anyway considering the plethora of overreaching laws on the books.
I'll be making and using general purpose computers for the rest of my life no matter what the ratfuckers in Congress try to do.
Time to organize the script-kiddies for a focussed effort.
M
I don't recall anyone hiding that they were Democrats.
The revolution will NOT be televised.
I live in SC and will be 18 next April, so I'm wondering when I will be able to not vote for Hollings :)
Ingersoll
Justin Ingersoll
Is demo some large unit of currency or something?
Sheesh, evil *and* a jerk. -- Jade
Everything anyone creates is inherently copyrighted under the Berne Convention.
I can write on the pad of paper of my choice,
but if I want to use a computer, it has to be approved by the State under criminal penalty?
to whom, etc: eat shit and die horribly, thanks.
The new government slogan:
The government by corporations, of corporations and for corporations.
if only we could figure out a way to kill Jerry Falwell at the same time!
I find it rather ironic that all these congressmen (women) are on this tyraid and bandwagon of protecting Freedom and Democracy by removing it.
That sounds like a good idea! At what point is the american population going to stand up for their rights? Soon you will live in a country where you think you are free but having all your communications and interaction montiored. 1984 will become true in 2001. This will be even worse then living in a communist state, atleast there, they have no illusions of being free.
Sen. Hollings,
How can you justify forcing the public to adhere to standards of security that are directly in conflict with fair usage clauses under the copyright laws? While I do not traffic in, participate in, or otherwise affiliate myself with those who do, stolen, pirated, copied, illegally borrowed, confiscated, or any other verbage associated with the theft of material legitimate companies have offered for public sale, I also refuse to support you or anyone who attempts to force such regulations of mistrust, guilty before proven innocent, big brother, it's for your own good to divert you from having the option of performing anything illegal, bills or laws.
This is absolutely wrong and I would not be suprised to find out that your wallet is being packed by the special interest groups this is absolutely designed to protect. And to think that the people elected you to your position for you to force such regulations upon them. How dare you?
Sincerely yours,
Eric
... there is nothing that has not already been thought
It's at times like this I'm glad I'm Canadian.
I think Q33NY was the flight to NY what crashed on the WTC.
Try to open MSWord and type in Q33NY and change those letters to the font WINGDINGS; you'll be shocked to see the results !
Q - 3 - 3 - N - Y changes to:
(airplane) (tower) (tower) (death) (palestina?)
--- I am known for the ones who want to find me on the net. Is that a privacy risk or a privilege? One might wonder..
I think every slashdot reader should contribute a buck or two and we can buy our own senator.
Sec. 101: Prohibition of Worm Sedition
(a) In General -- It is unlawful to be the victim of an electronic mail worm that encrypts your communications.
(b) Exception -- Subsection (a) does not apply to people with enough money for a legal staff or with blood relatives who are attorneys. Ignorance of worm infestation does not provide exemption from this statute.
Room 101: Penalty
(a) In General -- Any male who violates Section 101 shall be subjected to no less than a 20 percent chance of being raped by an HIV and/or Hepatitis C infected gang, with males under the age of 25 being subject to no less than a 40 percent chance of such punishment.
Seastead this.
Why didn't Linus et al. buy themselves some good laws when they were paper zillionaires?
I don't think anything will be severely changed by this, however. Every signifigant invention has been opposed by someone. Usually, this hasn't proved too serious. I am sure that the Big Bad Corporations are not immune to the market effects of adding 'security' to every digital device.
To get to my point, this too shall pass. People will make the needed choices, and Congress will react accordingly. However, terrorists attacking the US will certainly make life more 'challenging' for a while.
-WS
An operating system should be like a light switch... simple, effective, easy to use, and designed for everyone.
Why doesn't /. refer to "Sen. Fritz Hollings" as "Sen. Fritz Hollings (D-SC)", Hmm? I thought Republicans were the ones who were money-corrupt?
/. to be unbiased and objective.
Of course, when CmdrTaco is running the show, I shouldn't expect
I am MuchTall
supreme court here I come.. if I can't use Linux then I'll sue the feds....
Only 'flamers' flame!
Just look at the record as to what party brings out all of these anti-first amemndment, anti-copying, etc bills lately.
There are many legitmate reasons to vote for Democrats, but protecting our rights in this arena has not been one of them as of late.
-
Senator Hollings official bio says, " Hollings uses his seniority, experience and know-how to fight for South Carolina. The state now receives $1.16 from the federal government for every $1 it sends to Washington."
Hollings introduced a bill to tax the Internet: 1999: New 5 percent Web sales tax proposed.
The CIA trained Osama bin Laden: What Should be the Response to Violence?
Bush's education improvements were
As this "technology" will a government standard, the specification should be public domain. So it should be possible to add support for this "technology" to Linux.
So support gets added. Even if the source code is available and modifiable, the developers would distribute a product that's fully compliant with the law. If anybody removes the support, he/she would violate section 103(a)(1) ("No person may remove or alter any certified security technology"), not the original developers.
For people not living in the U.S., there would be a patch to remove the support, developed outside the US, of course. Crypto support is already handled this way. (The "standard" kernel must include support, otherwise US kernel hackers would be excluded)
Or maybe you could even make it an option, suitable tagged with a warning. "Warning, disabling this option is illegal in the U.S." If it's enabled by default, and you disable it, it's you who removes the support, thus you commit the crime, not the developers.
(Of course, the best thing to do is to make sure that the SSSCA never becomes law. But if it does, it might not be total disaster.)
...when the pry the keyboard from my cold, dead hands!!!
If this bullshit law passes it's time for some civil disobedience, indeed.
With the DMCA, most senators didn't even realize that anybody was even opposed to this law. That can't happen again.
They knew exactly what they were getting into and purposely chose a voice vote so we can't pick on those who said Aye.
How come you can follow money here, and not follow the money behind Rep. Barbara Lee, the woman who voted against punishing the guilty parties for the WTC attack? And see who she accepts PAC contributions from?
It's nice we're on the brink of WWIII, and have terrorist puppets even in Congress, but you guys are still worried ab0ut not being able to copy your porno DVDs.
Don't just copy'n'paste. If you do, your letter will just be ignored. Tell them in your _own_ words why the bill should never become law. And then provide a few URLs as reference.
This seems like the best time for corporate america to attack in such areas. All they have to do is scare the people into thinking that terrorists are math majors out to take down the US.
I decided to write my congresswoman, Tammy Baldwin, about this issue. If anyone want's to do the same but needs inspiration, here's my letter. It's far from perfect, and it certainly doesn't apply to everyone, but it expresses how I and probably most of you feel, and explains the basic issue. Feel free to rip it off or offer improvements.
2 047211
0 .html
Tammy Baldwin,
I've been reading on internet news sites such as Slashdot and Wired about the pending introduction of a bill known as the Security Systems Standards and Certification Act, or SSSCA. It scares me. This bill requires all interactive computer systems -- PCs, palmtops, possibly even VCRs -- to include certified security technologies, under penalty of law. Major backers of this bill include Sen. Fritz Hollings and the entertainment industry, which coincidentally is a major campaign supporter of Sen. Hollings.
I am a student at Madison West High School, and laws such as these, which overstep the bounds of the constitution and interfere with citizen's rights merely to advance the cause of the media industry frankly, well, scare the shit out of me. It's disturbing to imagine a future where restrictions such as the one's included in the SSSCA are considered commonplace.
Therefore, I ask you, as a citizen who will be voting in the next congressional election, to look into this issue and realize what it's effects might be, before it has a chance to get out of hand on the floor. Laws such as the SSSCA simply serve no purpose other than to restrict the rights of consumers in order to make it easier for media conglomerates to control exactly how their content is used.
I fear that although I may have succeeded in expressing my opinion to you, I have not succeeded in expressing the scope of the SSSCA in terms a congresswoman who doesn't intimately understand information technology can comprehend. I have therefore included links to articles which describe the potential effects of the SSSCA better than I did. Please read them and understand the evil of this law.
http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/09/20/
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,46655,0
A current draft of the bill
Thank you for your consideration of this matter.
Sincerely,
Joseph Kohl-Riggs
-- Nerds on toast in the new millenium
-B
Not that this wasn't entirely predictable.
... that without this technology we might be attacked by our devices. Just because your device acts like it loves you doesn't change the fact that they are descended from wolves, and we from monkeys. Wolves eat monkeys. And when our devices are assimilated by Microsoft, then especially we will be glad that we had these security circuits embedded!
"with their freedom lost all virtue lose" - Milton
Maybe it should say something about the SSCA and how future accesses to this site may be illegal (or the site will need to be taken down) because running a particular operating system is against the law. This same Operating System that has been faithfully delivering this site to you for a long time. If you agree that this is wrong then follow the link to enter and take a moment to fill out the form on the next page. It will be emailed to the Senators/Congressmen/Media Outlets of your choice (use checkboxes and send then into the site when they click the submit button). If you think this is OK and we should be taken down for not complying, click the Leave link and you will be randomly sent to a supporter of this evil legislation (please note how bland the resulting Internet will be).
There are probably others, but I think some sort of BlackOut is in order. It worked before. Maybe we could use netcraft to get statistics on how many sites that would mean if every OSS site was brought down and perhaps we can highlight some particularly good examples like /. (of course) but also famous sites that run OSS that Joe Sixpack would know about. Think about how many people would be pissed if they knew that this would put the crapper on Google.com and Yahoo.com.
Just a thought.
..So, Slashdot wants you to think the SSSCA would make "any interactive digital device that does not include and utilize certified security technologies" illegal in the U.S.
Looks like i'm going to have to buy a new alarm clock.
It's this sort of flame that causes 500-response posts.
Cheers,
Bowie J. Poag
I am all for writing your representative, but we should all telephone our senators and tell their staffers personally why we oppose the law in temrs of its impact to each of our businesses.
Personally, title 2 of the SSSCA has some real potential, but title 1 is pretty bad (title 2 strengthens the government infrastructure for securing data by promoting education, scholarships, etc.) I would vocalize this aspect to my representative as well. Title 2 is what we should be doing anyway (increasing the number of trained security personnel) but section 1 will be enormously counterproductive... Especially when paired with the DMCA.
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=01/09/08/02382
you will notice that the Slashdot editors *did* leave the (D-S.C.) reference in the story abstract. Perhaps they didn't this time because they forgot, or maybe because it's true that they really are part of a big liberal conspiracy to hoodwink you.
Now that you know Hollings is a Democrat, what are you going to do besides surf the web some more?
The most frightening thing I found about the newsforge story was the small amount of money given directly to Sen Hollings by the media industry players (~$100K). Now granted, that's not listing the large soft money contributions given to the party as a whole, etc, but without that, it seems like congresscritters are going cheap.
Question: if the open source community (both individuals and those corporations who benefit from it and aren't scared of the RIAA/MPAA) put some concerted money and effort into setting up a lobbying organization and buying back a few congresscritters, could we tip the scales?
I keep thinking, who wants to listen to the shit pumped out by the big media companies anyway? My own little protest is this, I don't buy any recording on the cd format, only vinyl (I know it's a preference, but it is a material good w/ collectable value, a cd is just a cd), I don't go to movies cos they all suck pretty much.. support indie directors and indie music artists, leave the sony/atlantic/etc releases to the the wee ones and the mindless masses. The DMCA/RIAA are fighting a losing battle simply because the people they represent produce shit and even Joe Public is starting to wise up.. I hope.
Soon Bin Laden and the Taliban will be on your side. They'll be praising the US gov. for finally seeing the light, that no one should have any rights because they are just not worthy of them. The Taliban have already banned the Internet, floppy disks and music, so they're way ahead of you guys. But i'm sure you can teach them a thing or two with the SSSCA, and maybe even help them to impliment their own version of it (i.e the AK-47 CA, that ensures that all AK-47s are equipped with serial numbered bullets with the owners' name and religon on them).
Oh, and for people planning to write to Hollings, don't forget to include payment, otherwise he won't be able to bring it up in congress (he doesn't take discover: unmarked bills in small dinominations only)
This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
This poor hard working politician has his wife and kids to support. He needs the money. Cut the guy some slack.
NOT.
First, big business. Second, big labor organizations.
For your review.
And you guessed wrong about this Libertarian, but your wild assumptions about everything else and skewed perception of the Republicrats belie your small intellect.
(cross posted to newsforge)
I am a Libertarian. This is the #1 reason to vote Libertarian and ONLY Libertarian in each and every election -- our primary concern is making the Federal government as Constitutional as powerful.
What does this mean? It means we won't set limits on campaign finances or soft money donations. Hell, none of us even care where the money comes from, because we know its used for no good.
I know that sounds contradictory, if you let people donate as much as they want, they'll always get what they want, right?
Wrong. Our goal is to limit Congress' power entirely, taking them out of the corporate subsidizing that they've illegally done for so long.
Once Congress is limited to only making laws that are Constitutional, no corporation will WANT to give them money because, guess what?, that money will not do them anything.
Congress won't have the power to pass stupid laws.
Free enterprise and trade will reign supreme.
No matter what the Democrats or Republicans offer the tech crowd, NEITHER side can promise to stay out entirely. Neither side is a free speech advocate. Many libertarians even want copyright to be as it was in the Constitutions - 7+7 years, and then public domain.
Power to the people, the only way.
Sincerely,
dada
Your Friendly Lake County, IL Libertarian
http://dng.nu/dada
There's been a bit of comment about key escrow and government-regulated backdoors to encryption systems. Those don't make any sense to me. What does concern me though is the following scenario, which I got more worried about when I saw this proposed bill regarding government-regulation of digital devices. Here's the scenario: 1. The government says: "Fine, we recognise that encryption is important." 2. The government then mandates the ue of an encryption system and says in effect "If you want to do business with us, then get a public key from our Certifying Authority." 3. Encrypted communication becomes the standard rather than the exception; you have to provide authentication when you browse or send emails. 4. The mandated standard is set so that an agency with sufficient computing power can crack it easily; thus the citizens are protected from each other, but not from their government. So I'd be very concerned about this legisltion and anything similar where the government starts to mandate the use of encryption and security devices that they have certified.
----------
It has come to my attention that Rep. Fritz Hollings is introducing a bill titled the The Security Systems Standards and Certification Act (SSSCA). This bill will make it illegal to possess any computer device that allows unrestricted copying of digital data.
I have previously written to you about the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a similar law which I believe to be unconstitutional. The DMCA makes it legal for corporations to develop technology that can limit or remove my fair-use rights under copyright law, but makes it illegal for me to use other technology to restore these rights.
The SSSCA takes this unconstitutional practice even further. The SSSCA makes it illegal to own a computer that does not have "security controls". If I purchase a computer, all of the hardware and software in that computer must comply with whatever access controls the media industry has created. Undoubtedly, the restrictions that these access controls impose will not be open for debate by the American public. The corporations will have total control.
The SSSCA effectively criminalizes the development and use of a type of software known as "Open Source." Briefly, programs classified as Open Source are written in such a way as to allow users to examine and, if they wish, modify the inner workings of the programs to suit their purposes. Security controls such as these could not be implemented in Open Source software because any programmer could easily remove them . You may be surprised to learn that a significant portion of the entire Internet runs on Open Source software.
Like the DMCA, the SSSCA does not guarantee that I will be able to exercise all of my fair-use rights with this new "approved" technology. Fair-use is about intent. I can duplicate any copyrighted work I want, provided my intent falls under the guidelines of fair-use. However, it is impossible for any technology to determine what my intent is.
The DMCA and the SSSCA are unnecessary, because the original copyright laws are sufficient for the digital age. They allow individuals to make personal copies of copyrighted works that they've legally obtained, but disallow mass distribution of those works. Unfortunately, the media companies are not interested in targeting only those people who violate copyright law. Instead, it's much easier for them to buy legislation that strips honest consumers of their rights.
I would like to direct your attention to an online news article about Rep. Hollings and the SSSCA. If you can, please pull up your web browser and visit
http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/09/20/2 047211
On this page, you can read how a reporter attempted to get some basic questions about the SSSCA answered from Rep. Hollings, but was instead met with resistance. Not only that, but investigations into the financial supporters of Rep. Hollings show that five of the top twenty soft-money donations come from media companies. These are the same companies that promoted the DMCA and would like nothing more than to completely eliminate the concept of fair-use from copyright law.
Draconian laws such as the DMCA and the SSSCA are getting out of hand. They prove to me that many of our so-called elected officials really answer only to commercial interests. I am opposed to any law that restricts my constitutional rights, and the SSSCA is definitely one of these laws. As an engineer, I feel that my rights are being slowly erased by politicians who don't understand technology. I am confident that you will take the right side on this issue. Don't let commercial media interests defile the constitution.
And the men who hold high places must be the ones who start
To mold a new reality... closer to the heart
'any interactive digital device that does not include and utilize certified security technologies' illegal in the U.S.
Just think of the massive boom that this would cause in the economy as everyone who owns any digital device will need to throw it out and buy a new one. This would cure the current economic climate and the NASDAQ would hit 8,000 within a week.
Of course, you'd be pretty screwed after about six months as anyone with a brain in his head would have flown the country.
How about we find the people ultimately responsible for crap like this, decapitate them, stuff their balls in their mouth, and send the head special delivery to the politician's they're controlling with a message that reads "Straighten up, or you're next."
I bet that when this bill is voted on it will also be mentioned that it could also be a great tool against terrorists.
When will they pass the bill that says, "You are guilty of a fedaral crime, punishable by a $2,000,000 fine and 25 years in prison, if the RIAA/MPAA or other contributors to Congressional funds do not make at least $5,000 from you per year." I can imagine Dianne
Feinstein (D-CA^H^HMPAA) saying, "Obviouisly, anyone who isn't willing to fork over cash to the entertainment industry is a communist or a terrorist sympathiser," in her press releases.
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
The machinations around the SSSCA remind me of the 1937 Marihuana Tax Act, created through the efforts of big players Andrew Mellon, the DuPont family and William Randolph Hearst to protect their own business interests, which were eing threatened by technological advances in the hemp industry. Lots of history here and here. It's nice to know some things haven't changed since my grandpa was a little boy, like democracy and yankee ingenuity.
He's got a perfectly formed opinion of /.- from what I can see, he's had it for a while. Why muddle up opinions with some silly things like facts.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
I've been coming to the opinion for awhile that it might be effective to might fire with fire. In other words, get corporations who would stand to be against this to fund the opposition (gee, sounds like a proxy war..) Tivo is one example for the SSSCA, but they don't really have any money (I'm not sure what their cash reserves are like, but their stock is in the toilet, which is bad since I bought it at 40)
Apple with their Digital Hub strategy might be against this. So too might be UltimateTV or other Tivo-workalikes. Might indie bands and record lables be likely to agree to fight this?
Jim
It saddens me that when people asked me who I was voting for last year, they responded with "Who's Harry Browne!!!?" and "The WHAT Party!!?" The media whores have done a really good job in lying to the American public that only a Republican or a Democrat have a chance for the White House (or any other elected office).
"You spoony bard!" -Tellah
Back in 70-s in Soviet Union. Well, it wasn't technically illegal, but anyone wearing them was stamped as "bearer of the alien Western ideology" and often was denied some priveledges after publicly humiliated at a Komsomol meeting.
The practice was overwhelmed in early 80-s because of the sheer number of jeans on the street.
I sent this to both of my sentors in my district and my one representative, I thought it might give other people an idea about what to write. I tried not to make it too harsh, nor too soft - while also not putting a lot of technilogcial mumbo jumbo in it:
0 /2 047211
/////////////////
Senator Bond,
Being one of your constituents (I live in Sometown, MO) - I felt it my duty to inform you that we are not happy about the new Security Systems Standards and Certification Act (SSSCA) that is currently in draft form and is being spearheaded by Senator Fritz Hollings from South Carolina.
I know that in the wake of last week's tragedy - a more secure computing model sounds like a good idea. But let me assure you that this bill is not the way to go about implementing it. This bill has the potential to ruin computing as we know it. It will squash innovation and many freedoms.
You can check this address for one of the many news stories about this bill:
http://www.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=01/09/2
Please do not endorse this bill - as someone who is in your voting district I will be watching very carefully to see who is supporting this bill, and let me assure you that my next vote will be influenced by what I see.
Sincerely,
My Name
///////////////
You can e-mail the senators and reps straight off of this site.
I suggest that all of you do - they can't ignore all of us!
Fried
You know? I hate to say I told you so, but "I TOLD YOU SO!"
To the goober who said, "there has never been any conclusive evidence to support...blah blah blah" STUFF IT! It's right there in your face. This legislation was brought to you by the conspirators of the MPAA, the RIAA and the DVDCCA. It's sick. It's one-sided. It's heavy-handed. It's dangerous. I prevents non-commercial interests from creating whatever they want. It restricts creative interests!! Who would have thought that? Restrictions in being creative??
Where does the insanity end? It's completely un-American.
Without some sort of reforms, the Libertarians will too succumb to the PACs' influence- many have a price, some just higher than others.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Little wimp posting as anon.
If you're not a US citizen, write to Senator Hollings and thank him for crippling the US computer industry in order to give the rest of the world a chance.
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
This would mark the start of the suicide booth in Futurerama
make Linux, not Microsoft. sin(beast) = -0.809016994374947424102293417182819
here are the facts as they stand now:
1.hollywood (which is who wants this law) already uses copy controlls on their products
2.its already illegal under DMCA to crack those copy protections (witness the ebook case and the DeCSS case)
3.unless you have an approved player thats licenced by the copy controll people you cant use the copy protected stuff
4.even with manditory copy controll on all machines, someone will be able to crack it somehow.
What benifit do the movie and music industries get from having manditory copy controll on all machines.
...now all they need to get rid of is that "democracy" part.
I find it continually amusing that we were the ones who decided corporations should be considered people, and now the corporations are deciding that we are not people. Deliciously circular.
-Kasreyn
Kasreyn: Cheerfully playing the part of Devil's Advocate to hairtrigger
Yet even in this warm little electronic cave where you need not let anyone know your true name, you cannot suffer the thought that your fictive identity might be associated with this incredibly infantile little treatise of yours, lest someone link you to it at an inconvenient time. For example, in some other thread it might damage your credibility. But if this is typical of the tenor of your thoughts, I seriously doubt there's much to damage in the first place.
In closing, I don't think anyone needs to bother to refute or even challenge one of the categorical propositions you've chosen to grace us with here. I can hardly find any group of individual statements that qualify as a "premise" here, and even when they do they are so ridiculous that I don't need to do much to reveal their fumbling, stumbling ineptitude. They (and you) manage to hang themselves of their own dead weight. Cheers.
Someone who is so influenced by big money can only be a scum. Such a bill would be unconstitutional - and would never pass...but he is a scum even for suggesting it. Mad props to all the politicians who are trying to remove the influence of big business...McCain, Feingold, etc(and, ugh, Nader). Remember the New Hampshire state motto: ``Live free or die!'' If the bill passes(probability 1:1e99), millions would have to be jailed and fined. FUCK HIM! This bill is an abomination-and it goes against everything this country is supposed to stand for. Every researcher, etc, who uses non-certified OSS would have to leave the country or not be able to upgrade their kernel version. Entire commercial OSes would have to be re-written. FUCK HIM! Call your representatives and tell them to vote no on this bill--or you will not re-elect them. I wanted Dubya to win(lesser of two evils) but if he signs this into law...our country has been crippled. FUCK those authoritarians who want to regulate every aspect of our lives.
Excuse my swearing. I am just really ticked off.
Hollings is a dyed-in-the-wool Dixiecrat. I don't put him in the same category as a Tom Daschle or a Joe Leibermann (sp?). His perceptions on things are more in line with Trent Lott than the majority of his caucus.
There should be a moratorium on the use of the apostrophe.
Max V.
NeXTMail/MIME Mail welcome
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759.
If I wasn't an anonymous coward, you could reach me at ritz@@@mordor.net.
Looks like it is going that way ...
FUCK YOU, I thought it was funny....
This bill puts the burden of enforcement on the users of the systems, that is the copyright enforcement software runs on the user's hardware and they had to pay for this software. Thus in effect they are subsidizing the owners of the copyrights. In this case the only fair thing to do is like BMI or ASCAP, is to allow consumers to charge the copyright holders a fee for running this software. Copyright enforcement is now part of the users task and they should be compensated..... And so on this bill leads to so many of these type unintended consequences that it's a bad idea whose time should never come.
Actually I'm not an anonymous coward, I'm Doug Bostrom, dbostrom.removethis@mindspring.com. Slashdot doesn't practice what it preaches? What's this "registration" stuff?
Hollings makes a point of rejecting email sent by those not living in SC, as you'll likely discover if you send him a note about this.
I'm thinking about sending another email and offering him $100 if he'll read it. Perhaps there's a secret webform on his site for submitting proposed legislation along with credit card information.
"Linux/FreeBSD/GPL software is so prevelant in todays society that this bill will be entirely inneffective"
Good point, but all these copies would be illegal. There is nothing morally/ethically wrong having it on a computer but if the bill passes then you could be charged. Regardless if its expensive to catch all of them, if they prosecute just one, that would be wrong.
Hell, I can see you being denied and ISP account if it detects an illegal OS trying to hook up to it. ISP need to follow the law.
Not having a program/feature on a computer should never be illegal. Thats what is wrong about this.
"technology that is affected will not only go over the border to Europe and Canada, "
In Canada and Europe there are already copies of the DMCA being considered for bills/future laws. I'm sure that the companies behind this bill realize that it only covers US and will push for it in Canada and Europe.
The surprise isn't how often we make bad choices; the surprise is how seldom they defeat us.
It seems to me that one reason why all of these techno-stupid laws get passed is because the people who represent us don't know a darn thing about computers and technology. If there were a few engineers/computer scientists in Congress, the odds of these things getting passed and signed into law would decrease.
A friend of mine is a veterinarian, and she tells me that there are a couple of Vets who are in the House and Senate, and they have a lot of influence when it comes to laws relating to animal welfare and biology in general. When a bill comes before Congress that has to do with their area of expertise, there view carries a lot of weight among their collegues.
Also, groups that lobby on behalf of Vets (the American Veterinary Medical Association, for instance) has automatic allies in Congress because of their professional affiliation. If something concerns Vets, you can be sure that these politicians will know about it, and will be doing something about it.
I think it would be great of the tech establishment has somebody who could do that for us. Perhaps one of those dot com millionaires would be willing to put up some of their riches (a la Ross Perot) to make a run for Congress. There are enough rich geeks out there that we can't use lack of money from fundraisers as an excuse.
To take the point even further, I think it would be great if Congress represented the true cross-section of professions, and not just lawyers career politicos. Of course, that's just a pipe dream...
------
www.moneybythenumbers.com
*sigh*
Just like the WIPO Troll shit, I have a feeling I'm going to get blamed for this. Somehow, I just know it. Tomorrow's top story on GeekiZoid. Someone kill me now...
-- J'raxis (no, really, this time!)
fucktard faggot
Democrats, Republicans - they're all politicians, the same sort of scumbags with trivial differences.
I'd go for electronic democracy any day of the week; at least that way I'd know I'm being screwed over by a majority of my fellow citizens, rather than a few bought-and-paid-for lackeys.
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
I have not read the "DMCA" but here is my response to the Feinstein
letter.
Feinstein:
"I have always believed that the protection of intellectual property
rights is as important as the protection of any other property right.
Moreover, the protection of intellectual property is vital to a
flourishing economy -- particularly in California."
Response:
Protection from the consumer? Without the consumer intellectual property
ceases to exist. The consumer is a natural balance of maybe half paying
and half non-paying for intellectual property. If we could extract the
money from the non-paying consumers who would probably pay if they
could, and if the intellectual property were truly valuable. Would the
expended energy and time to protect the intellectual property from
non-paying consumers really make the economy more flourishing?
Feinstein:
"Without strong copyright protections, the incentive to innovate would
be diminished."
Response:
Throughout history real innovators who actually contributed to society
were never compensated commensurate to their contribution to society and
most were never properly credited. Most real innovators are not
monetarily motivated, they are just too busy innovating.
Feinstein:
"As new technologies have developed over the past few years, it has
become increasingly difficult to protect intellectual property from
illegal copying and distribution."
Response:
What new technologies, all technologies are based upon an evolution of
technology.
Greg
"email@somewere" wrote:
>
> LUG Members,
>
> Below you will find a response from Senator Feinstein with
> regards to my letter stating that I believed that the DMCA
> should be repealed ASAP.
>
> I'm looking for suggestions for a nice response. Have any?
>
> Harry
>
> Dear Mr. Barrett:
>
> Thank you for writing to me about the Digital Millennium
> Copyright Act.
>
> I have always believed that the protection of intellectual
> property rights is as important as the protection of any other
> property right. Moreover, the protection of intellectual property is
> vital to a flourishing economy -- particularly in California.
> America's music, movie, and software industries are second to
> none, and we export far more intellectual property than we import.
> This is good for employment, and good for consumers.
>
> Without strong copyright protections, the incentive to
> innovate would be diminished. In fact, this issue was so important
> to the Founding Fathers that the ability of Congress to protect
> copyrights is actually written into our Constitution itself.
>
> The Digital Millennium Copyright Act was Congress'
> attempt to address the issue of copyright protection in a new,
> digital age. As new technologies have developed over the past few
> years, it has become increasingly difficult to protect intellectual
> property from illegal copying and distribution. It is a delicate
> balance, to be sure -- nobody wants to restrict the development of
> new and exciting technologies, but we must work to prevent the
> creation of perfect, digital copies of copyrighted works which can
> be illegally distributed throughout the world.
>
> Please be assured that I understand your concerns, and I
> will keep your views in mind.
>
> If you have other questions or comments, please do not
> hesitate to write to me again, or contact my Washington, D.C. staff
> at (202) 224-3841.
>
> Sincerely yours,
>
> Dianne Feinstein
> United States Senator
>
> _______________________________________________
> sfvlug mailing list
> sfvlug@sfvlug.org
> http://www.sfvlug.org/mailman/listinfo/sfvlug
Born and bred an American I'm getting more and more cynical about my fellow citizens inclinations to actually uphold the Constitution (assuming that anything more than a small percentage of them even know the basics of the Bill of Rights).
Does anyone know of a nation that truly allows and fanatically supports:
- freedom of speech
- freedom of assembly
- a right to privacy
- freedom of religion and freedom *from* religion
- freedom to own firearms
and opposes all measures which attempts to strip away these rights? Someday soon I'm going to have a child and I'm becoming less and less sure I want that child growing up in America.
Max
My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
A friend of mine, Ben Tilly, has made the following annotated anlysis of the SSSCA, working on notes of mine. The original analyses were done before the recent announcement that Microsoft plans to "open" the .NET / Passport. It would seem that this drive for standards status plays straight into the company's long-term goals.
We believe that the SSSCA is Microsoft's game plan. This is how they intend to achieve World (or at least US) Domination. If others read and agree with our analysis, then I think our natural allies are companies like Sun, IBM, AOL, and Sony. They just need to have the true implications explained in clear terms to them to realize what is going on.
The analysis is long (it's an annotation of the full text of the draft bill). Some key points:
The SSSCA, as drafted:
The SSSCA could not be better designed to take the Microsoft monopoly into the new millenium if it were written by Bill Gates. And we can't rule out that it was written by Bill Gates. The SSSCA is completely incompatible with Unix. It makes continued development on all software competing with the standard illegal.
What part of "gestalt" don't you understand?
What would happen if all you clever hackers out there put you money where your mouth is and moved to Europe where we still have some sort of civilrights.
It would be interesting to see how the bou^H^H^Helected representatives would react if most of the new economy wasn't US-based anymore...
The practice was overwhelmed in early 80-s because of the sheer number of jeans on the street.
Exactly my point! At some point, all this will be too much for even our over-priced government to handle. When that happens, we'll see these things fall apart at the seams.
We as a community must only focus on stead-fast rebelion of the laws we find to be unjust. Sacrifices will be made... but when has freedom been earned (or recovered) without sacrifice?
Why bother.
Is anyone worried at all that they have been building new prisons like nuts in the last few years and they are gonna deploy national guard for "home land" defense? Anyone oposing any of the "upcomming" laws, designed to protect americans from terrorism, could in fact to be viewed as a terrorist sympathizer.
Anyone worried that the media calls for a patriotic rally before the markets opened on monday, Joe Sixpack went along with it, drove the prices up and then the "big guys" go and sell, rinse and repeat all over this last week.
To successfully fight this law we need the non-technical public to oppose it. We need the media to oppose it. Unfortunately the issue is too complex to expect JoeShmoe@AOL.COM and the media to fully understand it or to spend the time to learn about it.
What we need to do is hand the media a good sound bite on the issue. I'd like to suggest the following:
"The SSSCA is an attempt to legislate Big Brother into every consumer electronic device"
I encourage everyone to steal this quote, and spread it as far and wide as possible. Feed it to reporters any chance you get.
- - You can't take something off the Internet! That's like trying to take pee out of a swimming pool.
Constitutional rights being limited?
The masses want to ban something they don't understand?
Defenders of freedom being portrayed as terrorists?
I thought that eventually the first amendment would come under fire the same way the second has, but I never thought it would happen this quickly, or this severely.
Mark my words, the attacks on electronic rights WILL grow greater unless people manage to get the facts out to the masses.
In time there WILL be people who want to put a video camera one every street, and in every house. There WILL be people talking about banning the first amendment.
Take a lesson from the gun folks: you can defend your rights, or they can be taken away. One or the other. There are no other options.
Get involved. Start a petition. Get on CNN or Fox News and let the public know how rediculous and unconstitutional certain laws are.
-DarkPhotn Ashatar
-All your base are belong to the man.
.. and especially my business. I have 2 years of infrastructure and software built into OSS. RedHat would be sunk and illegal if they where not 'certified'.
Basically I don't believe that such a thing -could- be pulled off. It would be a political disaster for whoever tried.
I am sure that the recording industry and MS/Apple and probably Sun would love nothing more than this. *sigh*
Maybe OSS will be the 'Gun Control' debate of the 21'st century.
Every once in awhile, I think farting is funny, too. But not at a funeral.
start w/ Dan's article; start with the contents of other postings on /.; take Dan's questions and send them to the Senator. They are good questions; they deserve answers.
War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength
It's like putting a cop inside each car, because one day, somebody intentionally killed someone by running him over.
Goofs are distracting.
Several months ago, there was a thread on Slashdot concerning the anti-DMCA efforts of a certain Virginian (or West Virginian) congressman which prompted me to write my national representitives urging them to work with this congressman to repeal DMCA.
Below is the response I received from my congressman (Howard Berman, Democrat, 26th District of California) re: my letter. I also sent the same letter that prompted this reply to our Senators Fienstein and Boxer, but never received replies.
Dear (Me):
Thank you for writing to express your concerns about the effect of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA) on the fair use defense to copyright infringement. During the several years of debate and negotiation that preceded enactment of the DMCA, fair use was one of the most frequently discussed issues. As a result, the DMCA contains a number of provisions to ensure that it does not adversely affect fair use.
First, the DMCA does not change the law with regards to fair use. In fact, Section 1201(c) of the Copyright Act, as enacted by the DMCA, states: "Nothing in this section shall affect rights, remedies, limitations, or defenses to copyright infringement, including fair use under this title." (emphasis added.)
Second, the DMCA makes a distinction between unauthorized copying and unauthorized access. Since copying a work may be a fair use of that work under certain circumstances, the act of circumvention is only prohibited in the area of gaining unauthorized access to copyrighted materials. Further, the DMCA makes illegal only those devices that are "primarily designed" to circumvent technologies preventing access to or copying of copyrighted works, or those that have "only limited commercially significant purpose or use other than to circumvent" such technologies. These limitted prohibitions on certain devices in no way impair an individual's ability to assert a fair use defense to copyright infringement. In addition, a variety of exemptions where created, including exemptions for reverse engineering, security testing, encryption research, and certain uses by libraries and schools.
Perhaps most importantly, in response to fair use concerns, the DMCA establishes a mechanism allow the Library of Congress to create further exemptions to the circumvention prohibition if it adversely affects non-infringing uses, including fair use. The Library of Congress recently completed a two year study on the affects of the DMCA on non-infringing uses - a study for which hundreds of schools, libraries and others provided comments and testimony. The Library of Congress found an adverse effect on non-infringing uses in only two very narrow circumstances, and as authorized by the DMCA, the Library of Congress suspended the prohibitions of the DMCA in these two circumstances. The Library of Congress will repeat this study every two years, and, if it finds adverse effects on fair use, is authorized by the DMCA to create further exemptions to the prohibitions on circumvention.
You also raised concerns about the recent decision of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in the DeCSS case. I believe the court's decesion was correct on both legal, and more importantly, policy grounds. The court clearly found, after reviewing all the facts, that DeCSS was primarily designed to circumvent the CSS encryption on DVD movies in order to allow the unauthorized copying and distribution of these movies. Based on the copious contrary admissions of the creators of DeCSS, the court rejected their belated attempts to argue that DeCSS was primarily designed to allow users to play CSS-protected DVDs on computers with Linux operating systems. If the DeCSS developers simply wanted to enable the playing of DVDs on a Linus-operated system, they could have sought a license from the CSS licensing authority and turned their prodigious programming talents to developing a Linux player. In fact, the CSS licensing authority, which is required by its own rules to offer non-discriminatory licenses, has now licensed a group to create a Linux player for CSS-protected DVDs.
The purpose of the DMCA was to benefit consumers by increasing the availability of copyrighted works in digital form. The DMCA recognized that increased availability would not occur unless copyrighted works could be adequately protected, but also went to great lengths to ensure that these protections to not restrict the ability to make fair use of such works. I believe that the DMCA achieves this goal. I appreciate hearing your views on the topic. Please stay in touch.
Sincerely,
HOWARD L. BERMAN
Member of Congress
While I am impressed by my congressman's (or, perhaps, a member of his staff) familiarity with the technologies and the issues involved, his position of course is highly dissapointing. Since the copyright holders seem to be able to freely determine "authorized" and "unauthorized" uses - it seems to this observer that things that should be considered "fair use" can simply get dumped into the "unauthorized" bucket by the copyright holders (a clear case of the fox gaurding the hen house if ever there was one), which, IMHO, is exactly what CSS does.
Understanding is a three edged sword. - Ambassador Kosh Naranek, Babylon 5
If the legislation passes, it may not eliminate all MP3 swapping, but it will (a) legally mandate copy-control mechanisms in all PCs (such as CPRM and the Intel/Compaq/Microsoft "Trusted PC" standard), and (b) exempt the manufacturers of security standards from antitrust laws, essentially establishing a government-guaranteed Microsoft monopoly on operating systems for the good of the content industry. So the next PC you buy will not run Linux, or if it does, it will only work in a crippled mode, unable to do many of the things it can do under Windows.
This bill needs to be stopped. And you know
what to do.
Those are the odds I give it. And don't think it's "only in America."